Yet, Like a Dog
by hurleycat
Summary: When Dan and Phil run into Phil's violent ex-boyfriend, Dan has a hard time being civil. (Phan, naughty words, etc…)


Title: Yet, Like a Dog

Summary: When Dan and Phil run into Phil's violent ex-boyfriend, Dan has a hard time being civil. (Phan, naughty words, etc…)

Word Count: 2,140

Disclaimer: If I owned Dan and Phil… I'm too tired to come up with something creative. I don't own Dan and Phil.

Author's Note: There was once a time when I wrote purely fluffy, happy stories. **_Ha_**.

.~.

_"He continually seeks the goodwill of others, is dependent on others for everything, ministers to their wishes, never gets angry when they berate him and is anxious to get back in their favour." – Johannes Kepler (on himself)_

.~.

Phil laughed loudly, unashamed of how the sound echoed in the empty street. He looked over at Dan before shaking his head, still grinning. "Your dirty jokes will be the death of me," he said.

Dan bumped his shoulder against Phil's. "You love them. Admit it."

"You tell yourself that," Phil responded.

He slipped his hand in Dan's and looked around. There was something calming about the fact that they were completely alone for the moment. Sometimes it was nice to just be standing out in the cold, linked together at their hands, moving quietly through the world together.

Phil would probably never tell Dan this, but the times they were just walking contentedly down the street, hand in hand, were some of his best memories. There was no pressure in this, no need to be a little better, no desire to be a different person. Everything was perfect in these moments.

Dan glanced over at Phil and said, "I really love you." He said it firmly, leaving no room for Phil to doubt that he was telling the truth. Phil had a way of never accepting the kind words, convincing himself that it was all lies, and Dan worked hard to get around that.

"You too," Phil answered. It sounded hollow, but Dan knew that it was just because Phil was still caught up in admiring the moment. Slowly, Phil turned his attention back to his boyfriend and asked, "So where are we even going?"

"This awesome restaurant I went to with my parents while they were visiting. I think you'll really like it."

Dan loved taking Phil to restaurants they'd never been to before. Phil had a habit of always ordering the same thing and ending up in predictable ruts. One of Dan's favorite things to watch was Phil trying to figure out what he wanted when his routines were broken and he had to try something new.

"Hm," Phil said, still staring at nothing in particular.

Dan just smiled at him.

.~.

When they finally got to the restaurant, Dan was glad. It was freezing outside and the promise of food was always welcome for him.

He hesitated though as Phil stopped to breath in the crisp air one more time. Maybe he should have chosen a restaurant with a patio. He knew that Phil loved to be alone with him, especially when they were outside, surrounded by a seemingly empty world.

Phil walked in behind him though, showing no reluctance, so Dan let go of that regret.

The hostess at the front was the same that had been there when Dan came with his parents. "How many?" she asked.

"Two," Dan told her as she started pulling menus out of her stand. She motioned with her hand for them to follow, and Phil grabbed Dan's hand as they started to follow her.

When they'd been seated and Dan had started flipping through his menu, Phil let out a laugh. "I win today," he said. "I've already been here. I know exactly what I want." He made a show of setting his menu down without even opening it.

Dan slapped his menu down on the table, surprised by how Phil jumped at the noise. He brushed that aside and demanded, "What? When?"

Phil hesitated for a moment. He started to play with the silverware on the table and clicked his fingers against the glass tabletop. "Just… with an old boyfriend," he mumbled. He suddenly wouldn't meet Dan's eyes.

"Oh," Dan said. He didn't understand why Phil looked so anxious. Then it set in. "_Oh_."

Phil did he best to avoid talking about it, but he had told Dan about his last boyfriend—the one that had left him alone, broken, and nervous. Actually telling Dan had been really hard for Phil, so Dan didn't push about it, but he could tell there was a lot of damage from that bastard that still needed to be fixed. Part of him hoped that maybe just Phil being with Dan—who would never dream of hurting his boyfriend—had helped Phil a little, but he also knew that it wouldn't be enough in the long run.

"Do you want to go?" Dan asked, sliding his hand across the table to take Phil's. "We can go. We can order a pizza or something."

Phil smiled thinly at him. "It's fine," he said. "I like the food here anyway. The hamburgers are amazing."

Dan was going to reply, but their waitress came up at that moment. She was a short, bubbly girl who smiled at them for a strangely long moment before she finally said, "Hi! My name's Melissa. Can I start you two off with some drinks?" After they told her what they wanted, she continued, "Alright, I'll get those for you. Are you ready to order or should I come back in a few moments?"

"We're ready," Dan responded, and the both gave her their orders. She dashed off to get their drinks, grinning at them as she left.

Dan turned to Phil and said, "Well she was definitely a little strange."

Phil wasn't paying much attention though. He was staring at the wall behind Dan's head, unblinking and totally zoned out.

"Phil," Dan tried to call to him but got no response. "_Phil_." Eventually he resorted to clapping his hands in front of his boyfriend's face.

Phil jumped at the noise and met Dan's eyes. "Oh," he said, starting to blush, "sorry."

"It's fine." Dan fidgeted a little and watched as Phil did the same. Then he said, "Are you sure you're okay? We could just go home and watch a movie or something. We don't have to be here."

Dan hated seeing Phil like this, all disconnected and jumpy. Phil used to revert to this a lot, but it became less and less frequent as time went on, so Dan had started thinking that he was moving past it. Dan found it hard to believe that Phil would become this jumpy just from being in a restaurant he'd once gone to with his ex-boyfriend, but he really didn't understand Phil's mind enough to think too much about that.

Phil started playing with the silverware on the table. "No, it's fine. I'm fine."

"If you say so…"

Their waitress came up again; this time a man probably in his twenties came with her. She had her ever-present smile on her face as she said, "I'm about to go on break, so this is Owen; he'll be your server for the rest of your meal."

Dan glanced over at Phil to see that his boyfriend had his hand over his face and was looking away from the two servers. He was shaking badly.

"Ok, thanks," Dan said quickly and waited for both of the servers to walk away before he reached across the table to set his hand on Phil's arm. "Babe, are you okay?"

Phil shook his head. "Can we leave?"

"Of course," Dan answered. He didn't know why but he felt himself start shaking too. Something was very wrong. "What happened?"

"Please," was all Phil said.

"Okay, okay, let me just pay the bill and-"

At that moment, Owen, the waiter who took over for Melissa, walked up. He grinned as he said, "Are you guys doing ok? Can I get you anything?"

"The bill please?" Dan asked.

He expected Owen to nod and walk away, but it took Dan a moment to realize that he wasn't going anywhere. Instead, he stood rooted in his spot, staring at Phil.

"Phil?" Owen said breathlessly. "Oh my God. It's really you."

Phil shook his head and stared down at the table. "Just get us the bill, Owen," he said, sounding angry and broken at the same time, surprising Dan.

Owen took a step closer. "Phil, please. I've missed you so much. I-" He reached out to put his hand on Phil's shoulder, but Phil jerked away.

"Don't touch me!" he shouted, drawing the attention of a few people nearby.

"Phil-"

Dan stood up abruptly. He felt a protective instinct flare up in him at the scared look in his boyfriend's eyes. "He said don't touch him," Dan said aggressively.

Owen straightened up to look Dan in the eye. They were almost the same height. "What's it to you?" he growled.

Phil shifted in his seat. He looked around and realized that quite a few people in the restaurant were becoming interested by the scene.

"I'm his boyfriend," Dan responded. He curled up his fists and took a step forward. This was so weird to him; he didn't generally pick fights, but he felt the need to protect Phil.

Owen laughed. "Gone running to someone else?" he said to Phil, who had his head ducked down again and wouldn't look anyone in the eye. "Guess I shouldn't be surprised; ya never could quite function on your own."

"Watch it," Dan warned.

It wasn't until that moment that it truly hit him: this was _the_ ex-boyfriend. _This_ was the one that Dan had fantasized about ripping to shreds all this time. _This_ was the one had led to Phil's nightmares and flinching.

"Well you're lucky," Owen said, now talking to Dan. "I got him all trained up for ya."

Dan felt like he was going to be sick when he saw the way Phil jerked at that. God-what did that even mean? _'Trained up'_?

"Shut the fuck up," was all Dan could force himself to say.

"Oh oh oh," Owen said. He was starting to look a little triumphant, with a stupid, cocky grin pasted across his face. "Let me guess." He took a step closer to Dan. "He won't eat until you've started eating. He only answers the door if it's you; otherwise he lets you get it. He's home by midnight, no matter what. And the one I'm most proud of: he's never said no when you wanted to go to the bedroom?"

Dan punched him. He hadn't meant to; it had just happened. He hated the thought that some of Phil's little habits had actually been beaten into him, and it was just too much for Dan to handle.

Two guys from another booth suddenly stood and ran over. One pulled Dan back and the other held back Owen. A few moments later the hostess and another man were running up. "I'm the manager. Somebody care to explain what happened?" the man said.

"This motherfucker"-Dan pulled against the guy restraining him-"needs his ass fired and arrested."

Phil stood very slowly. "Dan, babe, please, I just wanna leave."

"Do _you_ want to explain?" the manager asked Phil.

Phil wrapped his arms around himself. "They just had a stupid fight and... look, it was nothing. Can my boyfriend and I please just go?"

The manager looked thoughtful for a moment. He glanced at Owen, then at Phil, and he sighed. "Just go. Owen, meet me in my office."

Dan pulled away from the man holding him and grabbed Phil's hand. "I'm so sorry, babe," he said immediately. "Let's go home, okay?"

They started to walk out together but stopped when Owen shouted after them, "His eyes are prettiest when he cries, don't you think?"

Dan spun around and screamed, "Go to hell!"

As soon as they were out of the restaurant, Phil latched onto Dan's arm and said, "I'm so sorry about all that. I thought he was working somewhere else now. I didn't know… I thought…"

Dan put his hand on the side of Phil's face. He pulled it away though when Phil flinched away from it, reaching up to cover his face for protection. It took him a few seconds, but he eventually let his hand fall back down and he looked weakly up at Dan. "Sorry," he said.

"Oh, babe," Dan whispered. He slowly wrapped one arm around Phil's waist and the other went to the back of Phil's head. He dipped down so his mouth was by Phil's ear. "You _never_ need to be afraid of me," he said soothingly. "You are a perfect human being who I would never, _ever_ think of hurting."

Phil's body relaxed under Dan's grip and he looked up at his boyfriend. "But Owen—" Phil started.

Dan cut him off. "_But Owen_ is an idiot, who doesn't know a perfect boyfriend when he's got one. Everything he has ever said about you is _wrong_. Everything he has ever done to you, I will _never_ do." He stopped and nervously waited for Phil's reaction.

Slowly, Phil met Dan's eyes and gulped. He carefully craned his head up and locked Dan's lips in his. Pulling away from a short moment, he whispered, "I love you."

Dan smiled at him. "I love you too, you perfect human being."


End file.
